Introduction: Some things are ours by virtue of the
fact that we own them. We paid our money for them. There are
other things that are not ours, in one sense, but they are ours
in the sense that those things are within your own power.

I.OUR HABITS, OUR BODY.

A.Habits are like little threads that weave themselves into
strong chains.

1.They can be pretended servants that become our masters.

1 Cor. 9:27,“But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection:
lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself
should be a castaway.”

Rom. 12:1,“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

2.Some habits are good, while other habits are
detrimental.

Heb.
10:24-25,“And let us consider one another to provoke
unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but
exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day
approaching.”

II.OUR INFLUENCE.

A. Everybody influences others and everybody is influenced by
others.

1. The flower can never tell
what becomes of its fragrance, nor can we tell what becomes of
our influence.

Rom. 14:7,“For none of us liveth to himself, and
no man dieth to himself.”

Heb. 11:4,“By faith Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he
obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his
gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”

Rom. 12:21,“Be not
overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”

III.OPPORTUNITIES TO DO GOOD.

A.Opportunities knock, but seldom do they linger. There
are many good things that we have opportunity to do today that
future circumstances will make it impossible for us to do those
same things.

1.These include such things as showing love and respect to
our parents, ministering to the sick, teaching neighbors, etc.

Gal. 6:10,“As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all
men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”

Titus 3:1,“Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and
powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,”

IV.OUR WORDS.

A.Words once spoken cannot be recalled. We lose control of
them after they have left our tongue.

Col. 4:6,“Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt,
that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”

Matt.
12:36-37,“But I say unto you, That every idle word
that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day
of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by
thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

1 Pet. 3:15,“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready
always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason
of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”

V.OUR MONEY.

A.The money that we presently possess is in our power to
spend and give, but it will not always be.

We might lose it.

We might die.

We might spend it.

Or, we might lose our sanity and no longer be able to
exercise full mental power over it.

1 Tim. 5:8,“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for
those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse
than an infidel.”

2 Cor. 9:7,“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let
him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a
cheerful giver.”

Acts 20:35,“I have shewed you all things, how that so laboring ye
ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord
Jesus how he said, It is more blessed to give than to
receive.”

VI.OUR CHILDREN.

A.While our children are young, we can train them to obey
and to live morally right.

1.While they are in our power, let us use every opportunity
to give them every advantage of becoming and living as a
Christian as they reach the age of responsibility.

Eph. 6:4,“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but
bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

Prov. 22:6,“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is
old, he will not depart from it.”

VII.OUR LIFE.

A.We all have opportunities to choose how we use our time
and our life.

Prov. 27:1,“Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what
a day may bring forth.”

James
4:13-17,“Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow
we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy
and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on
the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that
appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that
ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this,
or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such
rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good,
and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

Eph. 5:16,“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

Eccl. 12:1,
13,“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy
youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh,
when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

Let us
hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his
commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

VIII.OUR SOUL.

A.Your heart might be receptive to the gospel of Christ,
but will it always be receptive?

1 Tim.
4:1-2,“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the
latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in
hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;”

B.There will come a time when a person would give this
entire world just for a few minutes of time and a chance to obey
God’s will.

2 Cor. 6:2,“…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day
of salvation.”

Matt. 16:26,“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul?”

C.In hell there will not be any baptisteries, invitations
to obey the gospel, invitation songs to encourage the lost to
obey the gospel, or personal calls by concerned Christians to
encourage the lost to obey the gospel.

Heb. 9:27,“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after
this the judgment:”

Conclusion: All of these things have been placed within
our own power. As stewards of God, are you and I being faithful
to the trust that we have concerning these things? We can only
answer as individuals these crucial matters. Today, it is within
the power and opportunity for each and every one of us to do the
will of the Lord.

Have you
obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ? If not, then you have the
responsibility for your eternal welfare to do so. It also
behooves those of us who are members of the body of Christ to
make sure that our life is right in the sight of the Lord.